Brix Smith Start

American singer, guitarist and television presenter, best known for being a member of post-punk band The Fall (named after the novel by Albert Camus), and later as a UK TV fashion pundit. Studying theatre and literature at Bennington College in Vermont in the 1970s, Smith Start formed a group, "Banda Dratsing", performing as bassist/vocalist and adopting the name "Brix" after The Clash's 1979 song "The Guns of Brixton." Smith Start met The Fall vocalist Mark E. Smith at a Chicago concert in April 1983, and moved to his native United Kingdom, where they settled in Manchester and married in July of that year. She joined the group on guitar and vocals for the album Perverted by Language. Acknowledged for introducing a more mainstream, pop-orientated element to the group's sound, she remained in the group until her divorce from Smith in 1989. Smith rejoined for the recording and live promotion of the albums Cerebral Caustic (1995) and The Light User Syndrome (1996). In 2014, she formed the band Brix & The Extricated with former The Fall members Steve Hanley and Paul Hanley. In May 2016, she published her memoir, The Rise, The Fall, And The Rise. Smith Start married fashion entrepreneur Philip Start and in 2002 the couple opened boutique Start in East London. In recent years Smith Start has appeared as a fashion expert on various British television shows. Link to Wikipedia biography